How The $50 Billion Dollar Wedding Industry Could Be A Platform For Philanthropy

Esha Chhabra
, ContributorI write about the growing "industry" of social innovation.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Beth Helmstetter is looking to fuse philanthropy with weddings. Photo Courtesy of Subject.

Beth Helmstetter is an event planner and designer.She specializes in destination weddings.She has an MBA in nonprofit administration and worked in the nonprofit industry for years before turning to the $50 billion wedding industry.Now, she wants to combine the two worlds.

And she says there’s great appetite for it. Weddings are an ideal time to raise money for a cause, beyond just home furnishings: “The wedding and lifestyle industry is experiencing a movement towards more sustainable living, whether that be ethically-produced bridal wear and jewelry or fair trade goods.”

While couples can ask their friends and family to donate to a cause, Helmstetter wanted to make it easier and more streamlined for them to give back. So this year, after investing $12,000 from her own earnings and attracting a few sponsors, she’s launched a new venture. Aptly titled, The Good Beginning, Helmstetter’s new business is centered around a portal with over 130 nonprofits registered. It’s essentially a wedding registry for philanthropy, instead of a laundry list of home goods.

The site has a simple navigation bar, providing education and details on each cause, and a dashboard for couples to track the donations as they come. Couples are free to select as many organizations as they wish to support; if they don’t see a cause they’re passionate about, additions can be made.

While crowdfunding sites have been the go-to stop for collecting donations, Helmstetter saw a gap in the system: “Popular charity platforms don’t have the capacity to manage small donations from many people seamlessly.Their development teams are focused on securing large contributions so, while smaller donations are appreciated, gaining access to who made the donation and the amount is challenging.”

For couples who want to show gratitude for the gifts given, this becomes difficult.That’s why Helmstetter, who has a fondness for philanthropy and spent time in Haiti after the earthquake in 2010, wanted to solve the problem.Now, The Good Beginning handles all the donations, verifies non-profits before listing them on the site, and disseminates the funds accordingly.

To date, The Good Beginning has raised $14,000 through the site, which makes money by taking a nominal fee for staffing and administrative expenses. Over 90 percent of each gift goes to the organization, however.

It’s not always an easy sell, Helmstetter says.Older members of the family still want to give a tangible gift that can passed down through generations, as opposed to a charitable donation.“Shifting that mindset will remain an important part of our mission,” she says.

There is, of course, room for compromise. While some couples may be willing to toss out the wedding registry altogether, others can have a "giving back" list in addition to their typical wish list of home goods and furnishings. That way both types of guests are happy, as well.

But overall, Helmstetter sees that today’s couples are looking for gifts that are “more meaningful than new sheets or fine china.”

Given that there’s over 2 million Americans who wed each year, The Good Beginning wishes to infuse new life into the idea of “gifting well” for all those wedding guests, Helmstetter says.